Dear Companies:
We challenge you to own the responsibility of your product until the very end. The packaging you choose for your products is your responsibility, not the buyer's. We want industry to begin investing resources into developing a new generation plastic product - plant-based, non-toxic in any stage of its existence, and biodegradable.
Nothing justifies the use of disposable plastics for personal or business use. These objects, created to be used for only a few moments, stay with us forever at a tremendous cost to the planet and the environment. We challenge all individuals and businesses to end their dependence on disposable plastic, today.
We challenge you to own the responsibility of your product until the very end. The packaging you choose for your products is your responsibility, not the buyer's. We want industry to begin investing resources into developing a new generation plastic product - plant-based, non-toxic in any stage of its existence, and biodegradable.
Nothing justifies the use of disposable plastics for personal or business use. These objects, created to be used for only a few moments, stay with us forever at a tremendous cost to the planet and the environment. We challenge all individuals and businesses to end their dependence on disposable plastic, today.
The window of opportunity is now. We need to make these changes together. We promise to work with individuals, businesses, and government policy makers to ensure we stop the devastating, toxic plastic pollution of our oceans, our environment and our bodies. You can too!
Every day the Surf Lady Veronica Grey emails the companies who manufacture her favorite brands and products, with hopes of encouraging them to switch over to a biodegradable and compostable plastic. She will share some of the email replies she has received from the companies who are making the efforts to change. We like to call them ★ Superstar Companies ★ and the Surf Lady hopes we can fill this page up with tons of companies who want to make those changes to save our oceans!!
View a copy of the email letter the Surf Lady sends out to the companies. We encourage you to do the same.
List of ★ Superstar Companies ★
GENERAL MILLS
Thank you for contacting us about your recycling concerns. General Mills has a long-standing commitment to our consumers to produce safe, high-quality products. As a company with more than 100,000 employees, we’re also strongly concerned about the health of our environment.
We use recycled materials to package our products whenever possible. Currently, ninety-eight percent of our dry food products are packaged in recycled materials. We display recycling codes on our packages to encourage consumers to recycle the materials that are accepted by their local community recycling programs.
The recycle symbol is owned and governed by the Plastics Industry. It was designed to provide information about the kinds of materials that are contained within a particular package and that it can be recycled.
Because recycling programs are handled at the local level, we encourage you to contact your local city council for additional information. We realize that many communities are just beginning to develop recycling programs for their residents and they may not be able to accommodate all the materials that can be recycled. With this in mind, our policy is to use packaging materials that are not toxic when burned or buried in landfills.
At General Mills, customer feedback is critical to our success. It’s through communications like yours that we become aware of consumer concerns and preferences. We share your concerns about the environment and we’re continually looking for environmentally-safe packaging. I hope you will continue to use and enjoy our products.
Sincerely,Jessica Vescio
Consumer Services
Thank you for contacting us about your recycling concerns. General Mills has a long-standing commitment to our consumers to produce safe, high-quality products. As a company with more than 100,000 employees, we’re also strongly concerned about the health of our environment.
We use recycled materials to package our products whenever possible. Currently, ninety-eight percent of our dry food products are packaged in recycled materials. We display recycling codes on our packages to encourage consumers to recycle the materials that are accepted by their local community recycling programs.
The recycle symbol is owned and governed by the Plastics Industry. It was designed to provide information about the kinds of materials that are contained within a particular package and that it can be recycled.
Because recycling programs are handled at the local level, we encourage you to contact your local city council for additional information. We realize that many communities are just beginning to develop recycling programs for their residents and they may not be able to accommodate all the materials that can be recycled. With this in mind, our policy is to use packaging materials that are not toxic when burned or buried in landfills.
At General Mills, customer feedback is critical to our success. It’s through communications like yours that we become aware of consumer concerns and preferences. We share your concerns about the environment and we’re continually looking for environmentally-safe packaging. I hope you will continue to use and enjoy our products.
Sincerely,Jessica Vescio
Consumer Services
PROCTER & GAMBLE
Veronica,
Thank you for your message and for your interest in P&G. We are happy to share with you what P&G is doing about the issue of reducing the environmental impact of our products and packaging, including our use of plastic. You can access further details through our Sustainability Reports available at: www.pg.com/sustainability
In Sep 2010, P&G announced its long term environmental sustainability vision that includes:
• Using 100% renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging
• Powering our plants with 100% renewable energy
• Having zero consumer or manufacturing waste go to landfill
• Designing products to delight consumers while maximising the conservation of resources.
We also set the following goals for 2020:
• Replacing 25% of our current petroleum-based materials with sustainably-sourced renewable materials Packaging reduction of 20% per consumer use
• Ensuring 70% of washing machine loads are done in cold water
• Running pilot studies in both developed and developing markets to understand how to eliminate landfilling or dumping of consumer solid waste
• Increasing our use of renewable energy in our plants to 30%
• Reducing manufacturing waste sent to land fill to below 0.5% of incoming material
• Reducing truck transportation by 20% (km per unit of volume).
The goals above in bold may be of particular interest to your campaign objectives.
Our sustainability reports include specific examples of product and packaging innovations which reduce the use of packaging material, or involve increasing use of non-petrochemical based packaging materials: Use of renewable, plant based plastic in Pantene Nature Fusions Bottles, which reduces green house gas emissions by more than 170%, and use of fossil fuels by 70%.
Innovative packaging for Gillette Fusion Pro-glide, using moulded fibre and thus reducing plastics use by 57%, and total packaging weight by 20%, and being PVC free.
Our use of innovative BOWS software (Bottle Optimisation Weight Software) to reduce the amount of plastic in bottles by an average of 14%.
P&G is also working to help catalyse the development of sustainable solid waste systems, which can recover value from waste materials such as plastic, for energy or further material use. For example, we have a partnership with Recyclebank in the USA, and have supported packaging recovery in countries such as Egypt and Thailand.
Our overall aim is to design products that delight consumers, while maximising the conservation of resources and minimising any associated environmental impacts.
P&G takes the issue of consumer solid waste seriously, and is working towards our long term vision of zero consumer solid waste going to dumps or landfills.I hope this gives you an overall picture of our approach – but please look at our website and sustainability reports if you would like further details and examples.
Peter
Dr P.R.White
Director of Global Sustainability
Veronica,
Thank you for your message and for your interest in P&G. We are happy to share with you what P&G is doing about the issue of reducing the environmental impact of our products and packaging, including our use of plastic. You can access further details through our Sustainability Reports available at: www.pg.com/sustainability
In Sep 2010, P&G announced its long term environmental sustainability vision that includes:
• Using 100% renewable or recycled materials for all products and packaging
• Powering our plants with 100% renewable energy
• Having zero consumer or manufacturing waste go to landfill
• Designing products to delight consumers while maximising the conservation of resources.
We also set the following goals for 2020:
• Replacing 25% of our current petroleum-based materials with sustainably-sourced renewable materials Packaging reduction of 20% per consumer use
• Ensuring 70% of washing machine loads are done in cold water
• Running pilot studies in both developed and developing markets to understand how to eliminate landfilling or dumping of consumer solid waste
• Increasing our use of renewable energy in our plants to 30%
• Reducing manufacturing waste sent to land fill to below 0.5% of incoming material
• Reducing truck transportation by 20% (km per unit of volume).
The goals above in bold may be of particular interest to your campaign objectives.
Our sustainability reports include specific examples of product and packaging innovations which reduce the use of packaging material, or involve increasing use of non-petrochemical based packaging materials: Use of renewable, plant based plastic in Pantene Nature Fusions Bottles, which reduces green house gas emissions by more than 170%, and use of fossil fuels by 70%.
Innovative packaging for Gillette Fusion Pro-glide, using moulded fibre and thus reducing plastics use by 57%, and total packaging weight by 20%, and being PVC free.
Our use of innovative BOWS software (Bottle Optimisation Weight Software) to reduce the amount of plastic in bottles by an average of 14%.
P&G is also working to help catalyse the development of sustainable solid waste systems, which can recover value from waste materials such as plastic, for energy or further material use. For example, we have a partnership with Recyclebank in the USA, and have supported packaging recovery in countries such as Egypt and Thailand.
Our overall aim is to design products that delight consumers, while maximising the conservation of resources and minimising any associated environmental impacts.
P&G takes the issue of consumer solid waste seriously, and is working towards our long term vision of zero consumer solid waste going to dumps or landfills.I hope this gives you an overall picture of our approach – but please look at our website and sustainability reports if you would like further details and examples.
Peter
Dr P.R.White
Director of Global Sustainability
Surfrider
Rise Above Plastics Mission
To reduce the impacts of plastics in the marine environment by raising awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution and by advocating for a reduction of single-use plastics and the recycling of all plastics. Visit Rise Above Plastics For More Info!
Rise Above Plastics Mission
To reduce the impacts of plastics in the marine environment by raising awareness about the dangers of plastic pollution and by advocating for a reduction of single-use plastics and the recycling of all plastics. Visit Rise Above Plastics For More Info!
Seabourn
Dear Ms. Grey,
Thank you for your letter. We do share your commitment to protecting the ocean environment. Seabourn, along with the cruise industry at large, has set very high standards for environmental protection in our operations. I am not sure that you are aware of the lengths to which we go to ensure that we do not pollute the oceans, which after all are the means of our survival. All waste, including solid waste, is handled on our ships according to a detailed and specific set of protocols correlated to the best practices as designed by international, as well as local and national authorities. For further information, I urge you to consult the Cruise Lines International Association, (www.cruising.org) which body maintains a complete database of the complex regulations and voluntary guidelines under which we operate. From your suggestion that cruise ships dump plastic into the ocean, I can only assume that you are not aware of the standards we maintain. For the purposes of your film, it would behoove you to understand that cruise ships are among your most innovative and dedicated allies in this endeavor, constantly striving and investing in furthering the protection of the oceans where we make our livings.
Bruce Good
Director of Public Relations
Seabourn
300 Elliott Avenue West
Seattle WA 98119
Dear Ms. Grey,
Thank you for your letter. We do share your commitment to protecting the ocean environment. Seabourn, along with the cruise industry at large, has set very high standards for environmental protection in our operations. I am not sure that you are aware of the lengths to which we go to ensure that we do not pollute the oceans, which after all are the means of our survival. All waste, including solid waste, is handled on our ships according to a detailed and specific set of protocols correlated to the best practices as designed by international, as well as local and national authorities. For further information, I urge you to consult the Cruise Lines International Association, (www.cruising.org) which body maintains a complete database of the complex regulations and voluntary guidelines under which we operate. From your suggestion that cruise ships dump plastic into the ocean, I can only assume that you are not aware of the standards we maintain. For the purposes of your film, it would behoove you to understand that cruise ships are among your most innovative and dedicated allies in this endeavor, constantly striving and investing in furthering the protection of the oceans where we make our livings.
Bruce Good
Director of Public Relations
Seabourn
300 Elliott Avenue West
Seattle WA 98119
Eat Pastry
Hi Team Veronica Grey!!
Thank you so much for your email and for your concern for our environment. We are right there with you. Our team is always looking for new, more environmentally friendly ways of packaging. Recently we switched our container to a one of the safest and most widely accepted recyclable plastic containers (a #2). In the process we tested other ways of packaging, trying to avoid plastic all together. One option we looked into were cardboard (ice cream pint) containers, but the nature of our dough did not hold up well overtime in the refrigerator with the cardboard. Over months the container became discolored.
Our current container is entirely recyclable, no plastic sleeves and no plastic or paper labels which was our best option. Like I said, we are constantly keeping our eyes out for better alternatives. As we grow as a company, we hope that the industry grows to offer small companies like ours better alternatives to plastic.
Thanks again Veronica.
Jessie Williams
Co-Founder/CEO
Hi Team Veronica Grey!!
Thank you so much for your email and for your concern for our environment. We are right there with you. Our team is always looking for new, more environmentally friendly ways of packaging. Recently we switched our container to a one of the safest and most widely accepted recyclable plastic containers (a #2). In the process we tested other ways of packaging, trying to avoid plastic all together. One option we looked into were cardboard (ice cream pint) containers, but the nature of our dough did not hold up well overtime in the refrigerator with the cardboard. Over months the container became discolored.
Our current container is entirely recyclable, no plastic sleeves and no plastic or paper labels which was our best option. Like I said, we are constantly keeping our eyes out for better alternatives. As we grow as a company, we hope that the industry grows to offer small companies like ours better alternatives to plastic.
Thanks again Veronica.
Jessie Williams
Co-Founder/CEO
I am so happy to read this, as so many of my favorite products are from Procter and Gamble, from Tide to Nyquil!
ReplyDeleteI love this part:
Delete"Gillette Fusion Pro-glide, using moulded fibre and thus reducing plastics use by 57%"
hell yah!
Who's to say whether these companies are telling the truth about their efforts? For example, P & G may have correct intentions, but they do things like put sodium laurel sulfate in their shampoos - and that shit will make you bald. So they don't always have the consumer in mind.
ReplyDeleteYour right... there is no way of knowing 100% if the companies are telling the truth about their efforts. Ultimately, as consumers, with this superstar company page, we just want to encourage small changes & growth within these companies, instead of just accepting this passive resistance to change. Which is what alot of companies we contacted have done. We are highlighting the ones who are in the process of making changes to their products based a consumer demands.
DeleteI could never figure out why they put sh*t like sodium laurel sulfate in our products.
The truth is that the word "biodegradable" is bandied about to make us all feel better when we buy a "biodegradable plastic bag" when in actuality, Surfrider says that there is no such thing as a biodegradable plastic - that is an oxymoron.
ReplyDeleteWhat we really need is COMPOSTABLE plastics or ORGANIC products - ONLY THESE actually "biodegrade."
Everything else is just misleading so companies can continue to make money.
Someone I love says
Live
Buy
Consume
Die.
OTEP ~ work, buy, consume, die.
Deletesmash the control machine!